OPERATOR : Southern Railway.
WAR OFFICE [phone voice] : Mr. X, please.
OPERATOR : You're through.
WAR OFFICE : Is that X?
MR. X : Yes?
WAR OFFICE : Will you please be at the War Office at 2.15 this afternoon. A matter of the utmost urgency. I'll have someone to meet you in the entrance hall.

  (The music swirls up again and ends full. There is a knock on a door which opens.)

OFFICER : Mr. X of the Southern Railway.
WAR OFFICE : Thank you - and Phillips, we're not to be interrupted.
OFFICER : No, sir.

  (The door shuts.)

WAR OFFICE : Sir down, X. . . . To start with, I must tell you that the information I'm about to give you must not in any circumstances be divulged by you to any person whatsoever. I think you will see the reason for that.
MR. X [wonderingly] : Er - yes.
WAR OFFICE : This is Tuesday, May 21st, 1940 - a date, I think, which will figure largely in your memoirs if you should write them. . . . It is almost certain that within the next few days the British Expeditionary Force will be evacuated from France.
MR. X [after a pause; not quite taking it in] : You mean it's going to be switched to another theatre---
WAR OFFICE : No. The B.E.F. is at this moment facing the biggest disaster in the history of the British Army. . . . It will be a total evacuation. We are not planning an immediate return to the Continent.
MR. X [beginning see: softly] : My God. . . . My God. . . . When? How many?
WAR OFFICE : When? - at any moment. How many? - I wish to God I knew that. I can tell you the numbers there, that is all. But your job is to plan for the maximum number.
MR. X : Our job?
WAR OFFICE : Yes. Not to-morrow - not perhaps the next day, but in a very few days at the most - we will begin to extricate the B.E.F. They will, we expect, be disembarked at the following ports - Dover, Folkestone, Ramsgate, Margate, Hastings, Eastbourne, Newhaven, and Brighton. We want the railways to entrain them immediately, and disperse them over the country. You understand quick entraining is essential - for all we know hell might break loose over those ports.
MR. X : What about stores - their equipment -
WAR OFFICE [drily] : I think, Mr. X, that you need not concern yourself with freight. We will consider ourselves fortunate to hand you over men.
MR. X : My God, this is ghastly---
WAR OFFICE : Yes, I suggest we try not to think of that side of the - er - movement. What I want you to do is this. Call - for tomorrow afternoon at this time - a meeting of the traffic managers of the other three main lines.
MR. X : May I tell them the reason?
WAR OFFICE : No. I will be there myself - and I'll give them as much information as is necessary. It is essential that this information be shared by as few people as possible.

  (The music swirls up quickly again and takes us to the next day.)

WAR OFFICE : Good afternoon, gentlemen. I'm not going to thank you for coming. In a few days, perhaps, you will realise how necessary was your attendance---
MR. X : May I interrupt here, sir? I've thought a great deal since I saw you yesterday, and I must tell you that, in my opinion as a railwayman, it is essential for the meeting to be told the facts if we are to do any good this afternoon.
WAR OFFICE [after a pause] : Very well. . . . We are about to attempt to evacuate the B.E.F. from France, to extricate them from the possibility of annihilation.

  (There is a horrified mutter of voices from the railway officials.)

I realise, gentlemen, that you need time to see the full implication of this. But time, unfortunately, is short. I met X yesterday, as the Southern Railway will have the initial responsibility for the reception. X, I will be glad if you could give us your ideas.
MR. X : The B.E.F. will be disembarked at the following ports - Dover, Folkestone, Ramsgate, Margate, Hastings, Eastbourne, Newhaven, Brighton. Now will you please look at the maps in front of you. South-east of London is Greenbank. It is also within a short run of each of the ports mentioned. Railway lines from Greenbank run to the ports, like the spokes of a wheel from the hub. I'm going to make it a pivotal point for the movement. As the troops are entrained, the trains will proceed immediately to Greenbank. Also, the line from Greenbank to Brunton will be completely closed to other traffic. At Brunton the trains can be switched to any part of the country. I feel strongly the complete closing of the Greenbank-Brunton line is absolutely essential. . . . Nearer the ports is Garsfield. To feed the ports with trains, I suggest Garsfield be used as a stabling ground. They will be close-marshalled there as soon as possible - head-on to the ports, fully alive and complete with crews, running straight to the ports as they are needed. . . . And that bring me to the number of trains required for the movement. It is an extremely difficult problem, as we do not know how many - er - passengers we have to handle. But I feel we must detail 150 trains for this job. I realise, gentlemen, for any one system to provide 30 or 40 or 50 trains at the present time is a big problem. But I hope you can agree and arrange for that. . . . Well, that's my plan in broad. I suggest we now discuss it and get down to detail as soon as possible.
WAR OFFICE : And in your discussion, gentlemen, may I suggest that you bear in mind one aspect which may have escaped you. Your passengers will not be ordinary passengers. They will be exhausted, wounded, many of them. . . . They will be soldiers who have passed out of hell.

  (The music swells sadly up, then gradually disappears behind the sounds of Junction X.)

STATIONMASTER : That movement started at dawn on May 27th. It took 186 trains, not 150 - and they never stopped for nine and a half days; 323,000 men they took away from the ports. . . . And I saw drivers and firemen on trains coming into this station who were dazed with weariness. . . . It didn't make it any easier for us that the ports weren't quite the same as those planned. . . . Of course, we didn't know anything about it at first. The first train was in the station before we realised what was happening. . . . I'll never forget them - dirty, exhausted - a ghost army in a ghost train. . . .

  (A Dunkirk train clanks into the station, echoing eerily. It stops and doors bang.)

A TOMMY [exhausted] : Where are we, guv'nor?
STATIONMASTER : You're in Junction X, Tommy. . . .
A TOMMY [dully] : Junction X. . . . Junction X. . . .
STATIONMASTER : The middle of England.
A TOMMY [dully] : The middle of England . . . Christ . . . the middle of England. . . .

  (Station noises go to a soft background.)

STATIONMASTER [after a pause] : If you walk across to that ticket office, you'll see a booking clerk called Harrison. As the Dunkirk trains came in, I saw him hurrying from compartment to compartment.

  (Another Dunkirk train arrives and stops.)

: Hullo, Harrison, what are you doing out of your office?
HARRISON : It's all right, sir. Blake's looking after my window. My son was in France and I'm wonderin'---
STATIONMASTER : I see . . . that's all right, Harrison. . . . But it's a slim chance, man. Trains are going all over England.
HARRISON : I know, sir, but I cannot keep away.

  (Music begins to creep up, a sad background.)

STATIONMASTER : Day after day, train after train, he hurried along the platform. . . .

  (We hear Harrison, approaching, and passing on along the train.)

HARRISON : Jack Harrison in this compartment? . . . Anybody know a Jack Harrison? . . . Jack Harrison in this carriage? . . . Anybody heard of a Jack Harrison? . . .
STATIONMASTER : It was hopeless. But he just couldn't keep away from the trains. None of us could. I suppose we ought to have been cheering them up, but it was them who cheered us up.

  (Another Dunkirk train comes into the station. Doors bang and soldiers jump on to the platform.)

A JOCK : Any tea to spare for some thirsty lads, mate?
STATIONMASTER : Yes. The tea-waggon'll be along in a minute. You look as if you could do with a cup o' tea too. Pretty bad, wasn't it?
JOCK : At Dunkirk, ye mean? Oh, aye, pretty bad. But we were lucky, man. It rained like hell just after we left!

  (The soldiers standing about laugh heartily. As the laughs die down---)

HARRISON : Any of you boys know a Jack Harrison?
JOCK : Harrison. . . . no chum.
STATIONMASTER : It's hopeless, Harrison.
HARRISON : Yes - 'fraid so, sir. Still - (moving away). Is there a Jack Harrison in that compartment? . . . Anybody know a Jack Harrison?
JACK [There is a sudden shout - intensely moving] : Dad! Dad!
HARRISON : Jack! Jack! You're safe, son. You're safe.

  (The music begins to swell triumphantly.)

STATIONMASTER : I turned when I heard the shout. Harrison had his arms round a young soldier - huggin' him. . . .

  (The music climaxes and then gradually disappears behind the general station noises.)

DIV. SUP. : Hello, Evans. Romancing about your station, eh?
STATIONMASTER : Good evening, sir. Yes, I was looking back a bit.
DIV. SUP. : Did you tell them about the time you were running round the station with an armful of babies' bottles?
STATIONMASTER [laughing] : I did. . . . You got the wanders to-night, too, sir?
DIV. SUP. : Yes. I'll not feel happy till I see the tail-lights of that first special. After that it's not too bad.
NARRATOR : Is the line clear now, sir?
DIV. SUP. : Just about. It's affected nearly every train in the division since midday. Still, if that special freight can make the Linton loop before the first troop train comes through, we should be all right - provided nothing else happens - touch - [and he snaps off]. The lights have gone down!
STATIONMASTER [slowly] : That means an alert.
DIV. SUP. : No, Evans - can't be---
WOMAN STATION ANNOUNCER : This is Junction X calling. This is Junction X calling. An alert has just sounded. An alert has just sounded. Any travellers wishing to take shelter should proceed to the public shelters outside the entrance opposite Platform One. Any travellers wishing to take shelter [and her voice goes into the background].
DIV. SUP. [groaning] : To-night of all nights.
STATIONMASTER : Yes. . . . Well, I'd better get along to my office. You going down to the emergency control-room, sir?
DIV. SUP. : Yes. Give me a ring to check we're through to you.
[He is fading away.]
NARRATOR : Come on, Mr. Listener. We're going, too. But not underground. There's a signal box ten miles up the line and two signalmen in it. . . .